This untitled article by Geoff Luton was the main feature of Surfing World's 1970 "World Titles" issue. This version has been slightly shortened and edited.

The fifth World Surfboard Riding Contest commenced unofficially on May 1, 1970, with a procession of all international team members, complete with national flags and banners, through the main street of Lorne. The event terminated quite officially with the presentation of trophies at the Lorne Hotel on May 14. What went on in between those two dates was firstly a surfing contest with the usual percentage of winners, and losers; and secondly, at least ideally, what I would call a mutual and spontaneous exchange of international ideas on the basics of surfing. You can decide for yourself which of these components is more important.


The parade at Lorne is unreal. Here for perhaps the first time in a semi-organized group of notoriously unorganizable surfers, the world's best surfers at that, marching down the spectator-filled street of Lorne and, despite themselves, obviously stoked with the whole deal. Doji Isaka, the Japanese team manager, official, competitor, and ambassador is so jazzed that he carries a toothy grin, as well as his Rising Sun flag for the entire distance.


Saturday, the scheduled beginning of the contest proper, at Bells. Everything and everyone is prepared for the competition. The official world contest banners are in place at either end of the newly-tarred Bells/Point Addis road, the ISF [International Surfing Federation] flag-poles have been raised, the car park attendants have taken their positions, the official caravans are positioned, the PA system has been set-up and is working quite well, the just-constructed judges boxes wait expectantly for use, the hot-dog and doughnut stands are open for business, and the officials, judges, competitors, and spectators are all in attendance. The only hang up is the noncontestable 2-4' slop breaking off the point at Bells. As the rain and wind strengthen, so does the determination of the ISF to stage some form of exhibition to entertain the surprisingly large crowd. IPS president Eduardo Arena announces that there will be a teams trick riding demonstration.

The U.S.A. team is first up. Dale Dobson, always a crowd-pleaser, jams a one-inch fin into the box of his Captain America surfboard and procedes to pull off numerous 360's, sliding all over the wave face, sometimes riding natural and sometimes goofyfoot. He has very little competition. By popular vote, Dale takes out the unofficial trick-riding contest. The other teams demonstrate their respective styles of riding, but with the surf so bad there is only a very limited guide to form.

An official opening ceremony then takes place in a giant army tent on the hill at Bells, and in the driving rain all the member nation flags are unveiled.

Anyone who reads omens can see Bad Karma ahead.


Sunday, and Bells, again, is way off-key. More surfing exhibitions are planned. Corky Carroll, the professional showman, performs his special Batman maneuver on the small blown-out rights. Randy Rarick pulls off some skeg-first takeoffs, Peter Drouyn does a neat trick called surfing. Keith Paull and Terry Fitzgerald go out on a big tandem board but have a little trouble getting to their feet. By mid-day there are over 10,000 spectators scattered on the beach and cliffs at Bells; cars are parked on the Bell's Beach road almost as far back as Torquay, the sun shines at brief intervals. An unofficial paddle race is staged between all competing nations. It is in the form of a relay; contestants have to run up the beach to their boards negotiating a rope obstacle on the way. South Africa is a clear winner. Last event for the day is a surf-off between the No. 12 and No. 13 members of the USA. Mainland team, and involves Pat Cosgrove from the West Coast and Dickie Rosborough from the East Coast. Only one of these two surfers will earn the right to surf in the World Contest, while the other becomes team captain. The competitors are given 30 minutes and are to be judged on their best five waves. All of the American team turns out on the beach to urge both guys on, and this becomes a good example of the strong USA team spirit that is carried through the whole contest. Cosgrove wins, and as the crowd disperses it is quite obvious that the majority have enjoyed the day's novelty events.


Finally, the start of the official competition. Bells is a consistent 4-6', and the wind is offshore. Right away, it is interesting to note the obvious international differences in board shape and size, in surfing style, and in wave-riding technique. The Australians, except Midget and Keith Paull, are riding boards around the 6' mark or under, with big area tails, flat bottoms, turned-up noses and rail shapes flowing from super-sharp to gently soft. Mike Tabeling (USA), Randy Rarick (Hawaii), Rodney Sumpter (Great Britain), Wayne Parkes (NZ) and surprisingly enough Ben Aipa (Hawaii) are a few of the overseas competitors riding boards similar to the Australians. The South Africans are on boards as short as the Aussies, but much narrower. As for the Americans and the Hawaiians, the majority are riding quite narrow boards around the 7' mark, with sharp rails the whole length of the board, flat-bottoms, pointed noses with a definite nose-kick. The emphasis here is obviously on speed. Everyone else is riding slight variations of the two basic shapes.

As the heats progress, the effectiveness of particular surfboards and the varying schools of surfing become more apparent. Peter Drouyn and Shaun Tomson (South Africa) make the case for the short boards in the opening heat. Both base their approach on driving turns, biting cut backs, general maneuverability, and foam involvement. These are the basics of Australian surfing. Americans Mike Purpus, Rolf Aurness, and Brad McCaul apply the same principles to their surfing as the Australians, but with longer boards and greater dependence on speed. Corky Carroll, Dru Harrison, and to a limited extent David Nuuhiwa bring forth the other side of American surfing. They are more; they turn and cut back in wide sweeping arcs. There is also an annoying degree of predictability in their surfing. Most of the Hawaiians, Peruvians, and Puerto Ricans surf in this same purposeful manner. Major exceptions would be Hawaiians Reno Abellira and Gerry Lopez who, along with Rolf Aurness, weave and skate all over the wave face.

The performances for the day go to Peter Drouyn, Rolf Aurness, and Midget Farrelly, and even at this early stage they all look a good chance for the title. Australian junior Ian Cairns causes an upset when he easily wins his heat. There are 13 heats and by about Heat 7 the surf is up around the 6' mark and closing out a little in the center. A section has formed from the center to the beach, and I notice the shorter boards are losing a great deal of speed in the flat part of the wave just before this section builds up. The longer boards are handling it better. By the time Nat's heat paddles out the waves are 8' and breaking predominantly in the center. Nuuhiwa is brilliant on his backhand. Nat gets covered up on an 8' wave and goes out of sight. Young South African Mike Tomson puts in a strong challenge and is only narrowly beaten by Nat. In the last heat, Dru Harrison gets the wave of the day, an 8' cylinder, and he stays in the pocket all the way. Except for Grant Oliver, all the Australians make it out of the heats. The Japanese and the Panamanian competitor fail to qualify.


With the surf about the same size and shape as the day before, the heats get underway quite early Tuesday morning. The water and air temperature are a little cooler than normal and nearly everyone surfs with a full-length wetsuit. Surfers from the warmer countries can't believe the cold at Bells. Mike Purpus goes out in an ankle to wrist wetsuit complete with rubber boots and boards shorts. Terry Fitzgerald in place of Ted Spencer surprises a few critics when he rips in the first heat and comes equal first with Peter Drouyn. Nat gets second to Paul Strauch; his board seems a little short and he is having a good deal of trouble getting across the powerless Bell's Beach walls. Lynch shows a sparkle of form and wins his heat; on one wave he is completely engulfed in foam as he takes off, he disappears and then reappears with typical mastery. Aurness and Farrelly have easy wins. The only other Australians to make the quarterfinals are John Otton and Keith Paull.

The quarters are held in the early afternoon with Bells pouring through at 6-8'. Only three surfers qualify from each quarter and this makes it a real cut-throat competition. Of the four heats Drouyn, Aurness, and Farrelly win three. In the second quarterfinal, Rodney Sumpter breaks his board in the shorebreak; he immediately starts stripping his glass off and looks like he intends going out with half a board, then changes his mind though and manages to come third on a borrowed board.


Bells is a 10' blown-out foamy mess, and every other break in the vicinity is closing out. Meanwhile, news arrives of two members of the American team being busted by the Melbourne Drug Squad. The local papers play the story up extra big and Eduardo Arena is forced to issue a statement on behalf of the International Surfing Federation condemning the drug thing and the bad impression it has given the public of the world contest.

The contest is off for the day and everyone goes surfing at Lorne, either on the point or the shorebreak. Around midday, it begins to hail. The Hawaiians honestly believe that by nightfall it will be snowing and I tend to agree. More sensation comes with the news that David Nuuhiwa has withdrawn from the contest and that George Downing has withdrawn from the Lorne Hotel. Both events seem to indicate that there is growing discontent building up around the World Titles. Many competitors are obviously disturbed by the lousy Victorian weather, the absence of good surf, the bad time given them by local police, and the generally inhospitable hotel staffs.


The general air of dissatisfaction is carried over to Thursday as once again we are confronted with freezing cold, overcast skies and non-contestable surf. For the second day in a row, the contest is called off. It is now apparent that the original idea of having three rounds for the contest will be impossible, particularly with the whole thing scheduled to finish on Sunday. A number of those surfers who bombed out in the early going are very doubtful as to their chances of making the Grand Final, some even speak of leaving the contest and heading for Queensland and warmer weather.


For the third time in three days, it looks as though there will be no contest. Organizers hold an emergency meeting to discuss the state of events. A compromise system is worked out which involves the running of a losers event to replace the intended second and third rounds. All men's competitors except the 12 that have already qualified for the Grand Final will be required to surf in a series of events leading up to a final in order to select another six surfers for the Grand Final. This means everyone will be given another chance. The selection of the six will be based on the points they gained in the first round, plus the points they pick up in this next round.

Late in the morning, a decision is made to head for Bells and at least get the women's events out of the way. Bells is 4-6' mushy and breaking all over the place; the lefts in the center are better than the rights off the point. The crowd is unbelievable; they seem to have sensed that the contest is to be held today, the percentage of Mums and Dads on the cliffs is quite surprising.

As the Weather Bureau has predicted a general drop in swell over the next few days, contest organizers at the last minute decide to bypass the women's heats and get straight into the men's competition. The sloppy waves seem to suit the Australians perfectly and we win seven of the nine heats. Michael Peterson and Wayne Lynch are second in their heats and also qualify. Among the international surfers, those given a temporary reprieve by their performance in the second round heats include Corky Carroll and Mike Purpus, along with Gerry Lopez and Randy Rarick.


Saturday, and as a pleasant change it is mild and sunny. Bells is 3-5' and with the help of a light offshore wind is holding really good shape; perhaps the best small waves seen for the contest. The tide is low in the morning and the rock shelf is completely out of the water. Corky Carroll does his usual thing and wins the first heat of the day; he sits way out, gets the biggest waves and the longest rides, plus he can knee-paddle faster than anyone else. Randy Rarick comes second. In the second heat, Mike Purpus is supreme and wins easily; apart from Aurness, he is the most impressive of the American surfers. Nat gets a very lucky second. Terry Fitzgerald once again shows tremendous form and wins the third heat from George Downing's son Keone. The remainder of the Australian team, including Lynch, cannot fire and miss the cut.

The women's heats are finally run. Margo Godfrey is unbelievable, she displays an incredible amount of aggression, turning up into crumbling sections, doing re-entries and piercing cutbacks, and in general displaying beautiful placement of board and body. Sharron Weber and Barbara Belyea are very impressive on their backhand. In fact, I can hardly believe the high standard of surfing amongst the Americans and Hawaiians. They are all good and obviously have a stranglehold on the women's competition.

The men head back out. The waves are 4' and slack, the tide is full, an occasional 6' set comes through. Rarick, Carroll, Fitzgerald, Nat, Purpus, and Downing wind up as the six surfers to qualify for the final 18 in the Grand Final. Lynch misses out by one point. This means that the final 18 is made up of five Australians (Young, Fitzgerald, Paull, Farrelly, and Drouyn), five Americans (Carroll, Purpus, Aurness, McCaul, and Harrison), five Hawaiians (Rarick, Downing, Abellira, Strauch and Jones), two South Africans (Mike and Shaun Tomson), and one Englishman (Sumpter).


Hopefully, today will be Grand Final day, but by the look of the swell and the wind direction on the way to Bells, the chances of good surf are slight. Bells is nonetheless overrun with spectators when we arrive; it is dead low tide, the wind is cross-shore, the waves are 3' and shapeless. As usual, the cold is unbelievable and by mid-morning it is raining. Sunday again becomes carnival day, with exhibitions of trick-riding and the official paddle race. Midget goes out late in the afternoon and gives a solo exhibition.

By the time Midget hits the lineup, the tide is completely full and the waves are 3-4' and breaking very close to the cliffs. His performance in the low-grade surf is faultless and the crowd of 12,000 is stoked. To end the day some of the officials and competitors plant a number of gum trees on the hill at Bells, as a gesture of international goodwill.


The swell drops overnight to nothing. Monday morning, Bells is dead flat, and Lorne is a mill-pond. There will quite obviously be no competition today, so everyone heads off sightseeing, looking for surf, looking for kangaroos, looking for whatever. Tuesday is a carbon copy. No swell, no contest. Organizers hold a series of meetings to decide on what to do. We are already two days beyond the point at which the contest was supposed to be finished. Officials decide to extend for another two days, maximum. At dinner, Nat tells us of good overhead surf he and Reno had found that day at a spot down the coast called Johanna.


Wednesday morning, still no swell, and the ISF folks are getting desperate. Someone suggests taking the contest down to Johanna and after a deal of hassling we are on our way. The drive is unreal. First 30 miles of windy road from Lorne over untold rivers and creeks, then through Apollo Bay and up a steep climb, along a mountain ridge on a twisting gyrating gravel road bordered by rain forest. Abruptly we break out into an open plain and carry the last few miles to Johanna. The scene there is like something out of a surfing movie. There are three definite breaks on the three-quarter-mile stretch of virgin beach.

In the center, a 6-8' super hollow left is throwing over with monotonous perfection; a little further down the beach is a V-shaped bank featuring a 6' left and right, and still further down from this is a constant 8' right peak breaking in front of a small rocky slump. The water surface is smooth and the wind offshore.

Everybody is stoked, particularly the contest officials who waste no time getting things going. The first men's heat is sent out on the V-bank. Dru Harrison scores some unbelievable rides; on one solid 8-footer and he rides all the way just under the curl. Harrison, Downing, Fitzgerald and Sumpter qualify for the semifinals; James Jones and Brad McCaul dud out. Midget wins the next heat, and along with Abellira, Carroll and Young goes into the semi; Paul Strauch and young Shaun Thomson fail to qualify. In the third heat, Drouyn is super-aggressive and wins, ahead of Rarick, Aurness, and Mike Tomson. Purpus is unlucky to get 5th and bomb out; Keith Paull finishes last.

All the local farmers have knocked off work to watch the surfing, and it is great to see. At the request of the contestants, the event is moved up the beach to the right break. The first semi hits the water. Nat surfs like you would not believe; forcing turns, biting cutbacks, bitchin' cover-ups, all over the wave face, making it through impossible sections; by far the best surfing of the entire contest so far. Nat scores so high that even if an interference ruling is levied on him he will still win the heat by yards. Abellira plays it cool and rides the bigger waves, with a lot of pocket surfing. He disappears inside an 8' tube and reappears. Wow! Drouyn is a picture of concentration and determination and comes in for a good third. Carroll, Harrison, and Rarick are all impressive but they are simply outclassed.

The waves slacken off a little for the next semi. Aurness is obviously holding himself back for the final, but he still does his thing and wins. Keone Downing seems to be on every wave that comes through; what he lacks in aggression he makes up for with consistency and he glides into second. Midget is very lucky to get third. Mike Tomson and Terry Fitzgerald both try too hard and bomb out. Sumpter is way out of his depth.

It is now 4.30 in the afternoon. Everything is ready for the final; the whole scene is like a dream. Here we are, miles from anywhere, with perfect surf. There is nothing commercial about the scene, no banners, no hot dogs, no PA system, just the bare essentials. The final is made up of three Australians (Midget Farrelly, Peter Drouyn, Nat Young), two Hawaiians (Reno Abellira, Keone Downing), and one Mainland American (Rolf Aurness). The judges are John Whitmore and Ernie Tomson from South Africa; Doug Warbrick and Geoff Luton from Australia; Peter Way from New Zealand; Jose Rodriguez from Puerto Rico; and Del Cannon from America. The final heat will be one hour long and commence at 4.40 pm.

Aurness is beautiful. His first wave is a 6' left; he uses this to unwind a little. His next couple of waves are small rights and not very high scorers. Then Rolf paddles for the wave of the day; an 8' right with a 50-yard wall on it. As he gets to his feet from I give him little to no chance at making that long vertical wall. He proves me dead wrong. The speed he gets as he weaves and S-turns across the face is incredible, he then goes vertically up the wave-face, hits the top, pivots on his fin and drops down with the curl, and at the same time backs into the pocket at the base of the wave. He repeats this action over and over again on this wave and all his others.

Abellira gets some large waves, goes high on quite a few, staying close to the pocket; his aim is always for speed and for this reason he spends a deal of time at the base of the wave and the center of its power, simply driving. Midget gets three big waves almost as good as Rolf's; he flows all over them like only he can and shows his critics the smooth control that makes him by far the world's most consistent surfer. Drouyn takes out the prize for the longest rides and the best cover-ups. Nat, after his brilliant performance in the semifinal, does not fire in the final. He takes off on too many impossible walls and is forced to ride back inside the white water; he keeps digging a rail as he comes out of turns and ends up swimming on at least two occasions. Downing gives a pretty straight-laced exhibition of basic surfing. The hassling in the water is quite severe and it is only the ever-moving Aurness that has consistently clean takeoffs. The heats ends just five minutes before dark. There is little doubt who the winner is. As we leave Johanna, the offshore wind is still blowing.


Thursday sees the long-awaited end of the contest. The women's event is run at a little place called Skenes Creek, on the south side of Kennett River. Sharron Weber causes a minor upset when she beats Margo Godfrey in the 3-4' left closeouts. Another goofyfoot, 14-year-old Barbara Belyea from the East Coast of America, raises a few eyebrows by finishing ahead of two-time world champ Joyce Hoffman. The trophies are presented that night.

The 5th World Surfboard Riding Championships managed to produce a unanimous World Champion in Rolf Aurness, and this in itself is an achievement. The extent of the achievement is for you to think about.

THE 1970 WORLD SURFING CHAMPIONSHIPS, BY GEOFF LUTON

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